Hidden Failures

Without a doubt, a good team can solve nearly any problem. Realistically, teams do not even have to work well as individuals: often, great teams are composed of individuals who may not even work well with others. They just have to know their stuff. Good conflicts can cause solid exploration of many issues, and achieve a deeper understanding of the problems...and the solutions that follow.

However, it is possible for a well-intentioned, perfectly attuned team to fail when a lack of conflict gets in the way. For example, in 1986, a team’s reluctance to veer too far from the anticipated result resulted in the catastrophic Challenger disaster. Had anyone insisted on a little team conflict, things would likely have been historically different.

There are a few ways that a good team can result in a bad decision:

False Consensus. The group agrees simply to shut someone up. Imagine a meeting at 4:35 on a Friday afternoon: it’s the day before a three-day weekend, and everyone is eager to leave. An idea is put forth by someone at the table; immediately, one person disagrees: she says it will be a waste of money, time, and resources. Looking at their watches, everyone agrees with her and the idea is dropped. No one asked why it would be a waste; no one challenged her claims. They simply agreed so they could go on with their weekend. The symptoms of false consensus are easy to spot: a problem or concern is raised, but no one addresses it or answers it; instead, everyone agrees to move on. The problem with false consensus is that it almost always results in a long-term problem.
Groupthink. The boss says he wants a fresh idea. He wants innovation, and no idea is too outrageous. No suggestion will be dismissed as dumb. Instead, everyone looks around the table, nervously. The boss suggests his own idea, and it’s terrible. But someone says it’s a great idea. Great? It’s an amazing idea. And so, the bad idea is passed as the perfect solution. This is groupthink: the state in which a group fails to think like individuals. It actually doesn’t require a big boss to be present: a lack of diversity in the group can suffer from it. Consider a common scenario in which Department A has needed extra staff for two years. The committee’s solution to the company’s problems? More staff in Department B. Who made up the committee that decided this? All people from Department B. And a third form of groupthink is the “taboo” subject: productivity would be helped if they got rid of the boss’s lazy son in Operations. When the group meets to discuss how to improve productivity, it’s not uncommon that the boss’s son is never mentioned.
False Compromise. Edward thinks the solution to the problem is to reformat all the templates. Everyone complains that this is a lot of work, and that the better solution is to offer new sales incentives. Edward insists that sales would pick up with snazzier templates, and he’s even worked on a few. It’s getting late, and the group reaches a compromise: we’ll offer new sales incentives, and Edward can modify the sales templates as well. Great work, everyone says, and Edward announces he’s late for another meeting. Seconds after he leaves, everyone laughs at how dumb his idea is, and how the templates won’t matter at all. However, rather than discuss his ideas, they simply agreed to compromise on that issue. But it was a false compromise, and the plan will be doomed. How can you spot a false compromise? When other team members poke fun at the idea when the originator is absent, or if you can observe that the first part of the compromise is followed carefully, but the team seems to be neglecting the other part. The team would be better served if someone had simply spoken out.

Consensus is great, but rare; unfortunately, false consensus is far too common. And groupthink is obvious when a team comes up with a great idea that everybody hates. Likewise, compromise is a great way to give deadlocked parties an easy win, but a good compromise is hard work. Sadly, a false compromise is easy work, and results in little achievement.

Usually, bad teams are easy to spot. Team problems are typically obvious enough that you can spot when a decision is going badly. However, some team problems initially seem like great advantages: until you spot the details that indicate a bad decision will follow. These three types of false cohesion are the three most common forms: identify their warning signs, and you can usually stop a future disaster.